Home Schooling vs. Public Schooling
Jill Norris
COM155
October 27, 2012
Dr. Melton

Home Schooling vs. Public Schooling
The grand cartoonist Al Capps once said, “Any place that anyone can learn something useful from someone with experience is an educational institution.”(Capps) This statement evokes thought of exactly what defines a “school.” Can any place be called a school? Certainly the home can be called a school as there are around 1.5 million children in the United States are homeschooled. Home schooled children are able to practice their religion, can have a different curriculum, and different disciplinary actions, but both can lead to a well educated student. Public schools, even with all of their bad press, are still the most popular way to educate a child (Homeschool Or Public School? 2012)
According to www.hslada.org, which provides legal analysis of home school laws, someone that is interested in homeschooling their children should follow the law of the state in which they reside. Laws governing home school education vary by state and according to the 10th Amendment of the Constitution the power to regulate all forms of education belong to the states. Homeschooling is included in this protection. The Constitution states that the federal government is not allowed to interfere with or control public or private forms of education. The progression requirements for home schooled children do differ state by state and the federal government has no laws or regulations that affect home schooling [www.nces.ed.gov]. About 25 states only require some form of acknowledgement from the child’s guardian that they are attending home school with no further notification to the state required. This means there is no monitoring whether or not the child that is said to be homeschooling is in fact receiving any schooling. Whereas the other states require